PMS, built by Hugues, France
Copyright 2014 © Troels Gravesen
Hi Troels,
My Poor Man's Strad are in place since one
month. Cosmetic is not already finish. So, I'll see again the feet, some
components, the placement of the crossover, and the polish of the cabs.
Now, most important, what about the sound of
the Poor Man's Strad :
These speakers are very comfortable. The sound
is full and really well balanced. Music is so easy and natural for them.
Your work on the crossover is very good, At
ear, I can't find the points of crossover. It's realy perfect between
mid and tweeter. Thanks too to the very nice and large mid, wich one
perform very well for the price. Treble is a sweet dream compared to the
high of some full range !
For the low section, I have tried differents
lengts of port (80 and 120 mm) and of course the speaker's placement in
the room. In mine, best result is with aprox. 0,8 m from side walls and
1,1 m from back wall. There's 2,60 m between the 2 speakers and also
2,60 m from the speakers to the listening point. It takes a lot of place
in the room, but all the benefit is for stereo soundstage (well deep),
transparency and definition (details) and especially there's no bad
resonance. In my scénario, distance from the bottom of the cabs (vents)
to the floor doesn't really matter. So I think I'll try the « steel
feet » and I'll put the crossover into the cab (2 sections). The bass of
the PMS is still a bass reflex one. Not very speed and something like
monotonous under 60 hz, but not boomy. A good one at all if we think
again at the price of the CA22RNX, and volume of the cab.
About the amp, at this time, I've only tried a
transistor power amp 15 watts class A (ProFet) and it's already easy to
have some nice levels without any sign of distortion. Sometimes even
very close to acoustic live level. I'll try with a pair of OTL mono amp
60 watts. I think the best is to come, most notably in control of bass
section and general transparency.
At the end, final result depends on the system
and of course on the room. Last year, I've realised an acoustic
treatment of my living with the great help of « Bien-entendu, Itinéraire
d'un audiophile » from Francis Ibre (in french please). A very very good
book that I would always recommand. I don't know if there's such a gold
mine in english ? Certainly in japanese as I can read about so much
« Installations exemplaires » built in Japan.
An acoustic treatment is the only way to have
the real live or studio or machine sound at home. In fact, to "be" at
the concert, or at the recording studio or in an electronic machine,
just behind the microphones (I know, there's no microphone in a machine,
:-). The acoustic of the listening room vanish and send place to the
acoustic where the sound is (was) recorded. It's so great. And I can
assure the Poor Man's Strad is a very good partner to do this pleasure
trip. Music is easy for these loudspeakers that makes you travel into
space and time whenever they play. In this range of cost, it's a
provocation. Chapeau bas Monsieur Gravesen.
Best regards.
Hugues.
